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From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: The killer business application
Message-ID: <00944432.06FD6360@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU>
Date: 15 Feb 91 14:43:40 GMT
References: <29920@usc> <UbhCgwu00VpcACYYMo@andrew.cmu.edu> <0094412A.15FE5B40@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU> <1991Feb11.221951.4758@berlioz.nsc.com> <009441DD.664D58E0@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU>,<7458@uceng.UC.EDU>
Sender: news@eng.umd.edu (C-News)
Reply-To: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
Organization: The U. of MD, CP, CAD lab
Lines: 35

In article <7458@uceng.UC.EDU>, dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu (Daniel Mocsny) writes:

>Here is what makes the UNIX/RISC workstation usable: the person who
>knows how to run the damned thing. Every UNIX box I have used so far
>refuses to do any work until it has satisfied itself that somebody
>has devoted themself full-time to its care and feeding. The UNIX 
>box doesn't give away power freely; the power comes at the
>cost of breathtaking complexity. The only way to get on top of that
>complexity today is to plow through hundreds of pounds of paper
>documentation, a task that takes most mere mortals a few human-years.

Well, I beg to differ here. I know hundreds (literally) of people who know the
scantest thing about DOS, but manage to get Word Perfect or Lotus running and
they're in heaven. 

The "Mac-ifying" of UN*X is occuring, as we have now with the NeXT box;
turn-key system, pretty icons, easily installable applications. Software
distribution might be easily done on CD-ROM and enough code thrown in.

>So build a program that does everything, or perhaps 95%, of what a
>good UNIX system administrator does. Or perhaps 99% of what a good
>UNIX system administrator could do over the telephone. I have no doubt
>that a good UNIX guru is more powerful than a good MS-DOS guru, simply
>because the UNIX guru has more to work with. Embed that power in a 
>program, and there's your killer business app. 

You'll see more idiot-proofing of UN*X, easier installation of software, and
probably some half-hearted attempts to put some AI into system management,
kinda like AUTOGEN does for system tuning on VMS. Given the current tribal wars
between OSF and System V, I doubt anyone is going to get around to releasing a
"friendly" UNIX in the next 2-3 years. 

 Doug Mohney, Operations Manager, CAD Lab/ME, Univ. of Maryland College Park
	        *       Ray Kaplan for DECUS president     *
                          SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU